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This year’s most devastating typhoon hit coastal provinces in East China yesterday, leaving at least one dead and forcing the relocation of nearly 1 million people.

With wind gusts of up to 50 m per second, Typhoon Morakot slammed Beibi town, Xiapu county in north Fujian province, shortly after 4 pm, bringing waves of up to 8 m high, causing severe flooding and cutting electricity in the county.

The State Flood and Drought Control Headquarters warned the regional damage bill may be around 8.5 billion yuan.

The deadly typhoon, which swept across the west Pacific region during the weekend, already claimed at least 23 lives and four lives respectively when it hit the Philippines and Taiwan's Hualien area, causing the worst flooding in the island in half a century.

Rescuers raced to evacuate more than 505,000 from Fujian and 490,000 from Zhejiang, after witnessing the devastating impact in Taiwan on Saturday.

The typhoon caused a six-story hot spring resort to collapse and flipped over sections of a bridge near Hualien on Saturday. At least 31 people were reported missing.

Meteorological authorities across the Taiwan Straits had tracked down the worst typhoon this year by sharing their statistics and predictions.

Soldiers used speedboats to pick up villagers trapped on the roofs of their houses yesterday in Xiapu county hours before the typhoon hit the 500,000-populated region.

In Zhejiang, where the highest-degree "red alert" was issued, more than 35,000 ships were called back from sea, the provincial flood control headquarters said.

Fujian maritime authorities assisted hundreds of ships back to the harbor. But a 30,000-ton cargo ship was blown onto a reef early yesterday before rescuers saved eight sailors.

Cross-Straits ferries between Xiamen and Jinmen were suspended for the second day yesterday. The Shanghai Port and Wenzhou airport both canceled ferries and flights.

Questions:

1. How many people were forced to relocate as a result of the typhoon?

2. Which Chinese mainland province was hit the hardest yesterday?

3. Which Taiwanese city was hit the hardest?

Answers:

1. Approximately 1 million.

2. Fujian.

3. Hualien.

（英语点津 Helen 编辑）

Brendan joined The China Daily in 2007 as a language polisher in the Language Tips Department, where he writes a regular column for Chinese English Language learners, reads audio news for listeners and anchors the weekly video news in addition to assisting with on location stories. Elsewhere he writes Op'Ed pieces with a China focus that feature in the Daily's Website opinion section.

He received his B.A. and Post Grad Dip from Curtin University in 1997 and his Masters in Community Development and Management from Charles Darwin University in 2003. He has taught in Japan, England, Australia and most recently China. His articles have featured in the Bangkok Post, The Taipei Times, The Asia News Network and in-flight magazines.